Cover applying apparatus have heretofore been made in which covers from a magazine are fed or dispensed into an inclined chute which supports the covers in a downwardly inclined position with the lower edge in the path of travel of containers as they are advanced along a conveyor so that the containers engage the inclined covers and remove or strip the lowermost cover from the chute. Some examples of such cover dispensing apparatus are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,734,673; 3,100,957 and 3,460,314. In the cover dispensing apparatus of the type described above, the containers must engage and exert sufficient force on the covers in the chute to overcome the resistance of the cover stop at the lower end of the chute and accelerate the covers with the container. This requires that the containers be sufficiently rigid to withstand the forces encountered and moreover requires very firm support of the containers on the conveyor to prevent tipping or dislocation of the containers on the conveyor. Further, in such cover applying apparatus, the covers are advanced by gravity down the chute to the cover stop at the lower end of the chute. If the containers are advanced in closely spaced succession by the conveyor, there is very little time after removal of one cover for the next cover to advance into position. Reliance upon gravity alone to advance the cover into the cover applying position limits the maximum speed at which such cover applying apparatus can operate. Further, while such cover applying apparatus are adapted for handling covers of the type having a depending peripheral flange which can be engaged by the advancing container, such apparatus are not satisfactory for applying covers that do not have a depending peripheral flange.
It has also been proposed, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,282,025 and 3,440,794, to use a rotary type or endless conveyor type cover applying apparatus having a plurality of cover engaging fingers arranged to engage the upper side of a cover and advance the same along a path that intersects the container path to apply the covers to the containers. Such rotary or endless conveyor type cover applying mechanism, however, are relatively complex and expensive to make and operate.
It has also been proposed, for example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,040,494, to provide a cover applying apparatus in which the covers are stored in an upright stack above the path of movement of the container conveyor and the container conveyor has dogs associated with each container advancing pocket for stripping the lowermost lid off the magazine and for advancing the lowermost lid with the container until it drops onto the container. This complicates the conveyor construction by requiring a special dog or similar element for each container receiving pocket on the conveyor. Moreover, the aforementioned cover applying apparatus merely strips the lowermost cover from the magazine and then allows the cover to drop by gravity onto the container.